Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Latest News from The Bookseller

The government has given publishers just three months to
comply with new legislation which industry figures have warned threatens to
decimate illustrated publishing, refusing requests for a longer transition
period.

Representatives from Amazon’s US and UK Kindle teams held
meetings with three major agency publishers and a group of prominent agents
last week in a bid to encourage them to sign their authors’ titles up to
Kindle Unlimited.

Publishers are to help distribute books in celebration of
World Book Night tomorrow, which also marks UNESCO International Day of the
book, Shakespeare’s birthday and the 400th anniversary of his death.

An extraordinary General Assembly of the International
Publishers Association, called at the request of members who are concerned
about the admission of the Publishers Association of China to the
organisation, has voted in some key changes to the way the body will be run
in future.

Prominent novelist Kirsty Gunn has said Scottish funding body
Creative Scotland is involved in an "unofficial politicising of
literature", requiring authors with no overriding interest in party
politics to address issues of Scottish identity in their work if they are
to receive funding.